Welcome, Vault Hunters! Today’s update delivers some key community-requested improvements, smarter loot drops, and a new Legendary Loot Indicator for your radar. These are alongside major improvements, visual polish, and stability updates for a smoother experience on Kairos.
Beyond today’s update, the team is hard at work on a host of other highly requested quality-of-life features. Work on Photo Mode is wrapping up, while other updates like support for multiple active Big Encore Machines and more options for scaling difficulty are coming (we’ll talk more about these closer to their launch). Further into the future, we’re looking at ways to improve shared character progression, add additional endgame-focused activities (did someone say Takedown?), launch Cross-Save support, and more.
Now that we're post-launch, we want to break down how we deliver updates to you! We have two main kinds:
"Minor Updates" will take care of any smaller, more pressing issues outside of the planned update schedule (primarily balance changes, if needed). They also refresh the three types of Weekly Activities: the Weekly Big Encore Boss, Weekly Wildcard Mission, and Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine location. Minor Updates are scheduled weekly on Thursdays.
"Major Updates" deliver larger-scale changes, including new content, more sweeping balance adjustments, performance improvements, and the addressing of any reported issues. Major Updates are less common, and are planned to deploy about a month apart.
With all of today’s changes though, we hope you can feel the positive effects in gameplay as you experience How Rush Saved Mercenary Day and make progress on your Vault Cards!
Change List:
Bounty Pack 1: How Rush Saved Mercenary Day
We're stoked for you to team up with Rush and teach Minister Screw the true meaning of Mercenary Day! This being a holiday-themed Bounty Pack, we knew we had to deliver it to you by the end of the year. However, the team realized that there was more mayhem than time when it came to getting as much into Bounty Pack 1 as originally planned while never slowing down in their mission to improve the Borderlands 4 player experience.
So in the spirit of the season, we're giving a gift to all Borderlands 4 players by making Bounty Pack 1 free!* Thank you for all the passion and support you've given us as a community. We're hard at work making sure future Bounty Packs are more fully loaded with the compelling content players have been asking for. In addition, we're now adding a new Bounty Pack 5 (more on that in a bit); there's a lot of amazing stuff coming to Borderlands 4, so stay tuned!
Added support for How Rush Saved Mercenary Day content! Jump into this free content today by finding and interacting with the gift-wrapped present (marked on your map as a new mission) in any major hub, which will initiate the mission to assist Rush!
Added support for the Bounty Pack 1 Vault Card! Playing Borderlands 4 with a Vault Card active gives you more loot and XP via Daily and Weekly challenges, and it can be leveled up at your own pace (no time limits or expiring rewards here). You can activate it via the Vault Card screen in your ECHO menu. Vault Card progression works just like leveling up: it's all driven by how much XP you're gaining. By exploring Kairos, killing enemies, and completing quests, you'll fill up your Vault Card progression in addition to your regular XP!
This includes 4 new pieces of rerollable gear and 24 new cosmetics to earn!
Read the official announcement article for Bounty Pack 1: How Rush Saved Mercenary Day to learn more about the free content*, future paid DLC, and information on new endgame content coming next year!
*How Rush Saved Mercenary Day is the first of five post-launch DLC Bounty Packs coming to Borderlands 4. How Rush Saved Mercenary Day is free for all players, while Bounty Packs 2, 3, 4, and 5 are included with Borderlands 4 Deluxe Edition, Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition, the Borderlands 4 Bounty Pack Bundle, and will be available for separate purchase. Base game required to play content.
Notable Changes
We wanted to pull these out specifically as they have been heavily mentioned in the community.
Updated the Weekly Wildcard Missions to set additional start points in missions
Dev Note: This feature will allow future Weekly Wildcard Missions to jump straight to the meat of a mission.
Class Mods have been adjusted to drop more for your current character
Converted the Phosphene weapon challenge from character-based to profile-wide progression
Dev Note: This long-term grind is aimed at our most dedicated community members who invest the most time in the game. Still, we agree that completing this collection is more a reflection of your dedication to the game and not to a specific Vault Hunter. This is the first example of allowing more progression to be shared between all characters on your account.
Updated the loot feed to display total current currency after spending or receiving money
Reduced the likelihood of unintended movements or knockbacks while reviving a teammate
Dev Note: When reviving another player, the reviving player is temporarily given more mass, making enemy attacks less likely to bounce you away from your partner.
Added a new Legendary Loot Indicator to the combat radar for easier identification of high-rarity drops
Gameplay & Mission Progression
Addressed an issue that could cause the loss of SDU Tokens or Specialization points; this also returns missing tokens and points to those impacted
Resolved an interaction where players could not repurchase a boss encounter after all party members were defeated and respawned in multiplayer
Slide-attacking lootable objects will now open or break them consistently
Resolved progression blockers for more intuitive gameplay during Faction Survivalist, Wayward Gun, Another Day, Another Universe, the Badass Phalanx bounty, and the Black Market Tutorial
Corrected behavior where mission items could disappear after replaying and exiting a mission, preventing completion
Prevented rare instances of some enemies turning into NPCs and becoming unkillable
Adjusted tracking on some challenges and achievements to award progress as intended
Dev Note: The Professional now only awards progress for designated challenge conditions, while Private Reserve and What Have We Here? will progress correctly when opening chests with melee attacks. The Arena Grande achievement should consistently unlock in multiplayer.
Mort will revive players more consistently during Breeding Daisies
Resolved a condition where vehicles could be instantly destroyed if summoned immediately after using a Repkit with the Splat trait
Adjusted object placement and pathing across multiple missions, ensuring proper enemy spawns, interactions, Echolocation, and waypoint alignment
Synchronized some mismatched animations and behaviors in multiplayer
Resolved a reported issue where players could become briefly suspended in midair when exiting mission replay while jumping or swimming
Addressed a bug causing the Chopper vehicles to remain in a falling state after performing a vertical jump or powerslide
Prevented vehicle summoning in restricted indoor areas such as the Umbral Foundry Fortress
Removed the penalty during Scoundrel Roundup: Kilo if the panel is shot twice
Updated Mimicron’s combat behavior so it can no longer be stun-locked by singularity effects in the Tipping Point Bunker
Updated Patrol Ripper contract to progress with intended sources
Updated the Order Bunker boss Fractis encounter to ensure the boss remains defeatable after entering its shielded phase in The Crawlcroft
Adjusted behavior in The Next Quest Thing so the mission can consistently be accepted after saving and reloading
Improved enemy physics in Gone Are My Leggies to prevent The Beastie from being launched out of the playable area when hit with high-impact weapons
Restored ECHO Log rewards for completing optional objectives in three micro-missions when played solo
Adjusted Arjay’s resistances so status effect damage-over-time now applies correctly
Dev Note: Visual inconsistencies with Arjay’s wings might appear as a result of this change, but will not impact gameplay.
Adjusted arena boundaries so Locust’s gas canisters now spawn correctly within the arena during the Idolator Sol encounter in Fortress Indomita
Vault Hunters
Amon, the Forgeknight
Updated Forgeknight Forgedrone challenge so it unlocks properly upon meeting completion requirements
Corrected skill tree investment functionality to prevent Forgeknight from applying skill points out of order
Updated weapon input handling so Forgeknight can reliably swap weapons after using the whip attack
Rafa, the Exo-Soldier
Exo-Soldier's Soltado Kill Skill passive has been adjusted to function properly with two skill points
Improved PROJECT: Raiju capstone behavior so APOPHIS Lance consistently damages enemies during extended uptime
Adjusted Booming Business passive's functionality to prevent grenade spawns when the passive skill exceeds its intended level cap
Updated the Temerario passive skill so it provides the intended gun damage bonus rather than a general damage increase
Vex, the Siren
Updated challenge tracking so the Target Prescience passive only progresses when damaging valid targets
Harlowe, the Gravitar
Ensured that QED passive skill would remain functional in multiplayer
Updated Gravitar’s Zero-Point Action Skill so it now properly enters cooldown when used on enemies immune to Stasis. Previously, using the skill on a Stasis-immune target after affecting a normal enemy could cause it to remain active instead of triggering cooldown
All Vault Hunters
Adjusted critical hit calculations so gun and enhancement damage now applies correctly to all valid hit regions
Adjusted Cryo resistance scaling so enemy resistances now correctly match each player’s level in multiplayer sessions
Prevented Action Skills from activating during the first loading screen before entering active gameplay
Updated kill volume logic to ensure Vault Hunters cannot cheat death while in FFYL and healing with the Legendary Shield Guardian Angel
Ensured sniper ammo displays full capacity when creating a level 30 Vault Hunter
Gear and Rewards
Adjusted melee damage on Bayonet weapons so that melee damage increases with bayonet parts
Updated beam weapon behavior so they will deal proper damage when thrown
Addressed an interaction allowing players to infinitely scale the splash radius of homing sticky projectiles when using Torgue Legendary Pistol Queen’s Rest with certain builds and firmware combinations
Updated Skully grenade to adjust projectile damage for consistent output
Corrected boss health bar updates so sustained heavy Ordnance damage with Amon now displays correctly
Updated Torgue Heavy Weapon Ravenfire so it now correctly applies elemental damage when equipped with elemental parts
Adjusted Maliwan Heavy Weapon behavior so projectiles created from a hit don't detonate immediately after spawning
Corrected the explosion delay of Fuel Rod Discharge to match its description of 3 seconds when used on Ripper shotguns
Adjusted Rolling Thunder underbarrel grenades on Torgue shotguns to behave predictably on vertical surfaces instead of ricocheting excessively
Prevented bosses from floating when Exo-Soldier's Booming Business passive skill was triggered with Order Legendary Grenade Skully
Addressed a condition where the Vladof Legendary Shield Heavyweight could lose functionality after activating Forgeknight Onslaughter skill
Adjusted projectile interaction during the fight with Vile Ripper so players can now destroy the homing “Unstable Ore” projectiles
Updated collision behavior so Jakobs Throwing Knife grenades correctly impact the orb surrounding Vile Ordonite of Corrupted enemies
Adjusted some gear that was behaving inconsistently in multiplayer, such as: the bounce-back force of The Order Legendary pistol Noisy Cricket, reload animation timing for the Jakobs shotgun Hot Slugger, and misaligned accuracy of the Daedalus pistol Bonn-91
Standardized some instances of Firmware 3-piece bonus cooldowns to appear consistently. Visual cooldowns have been added for Oscar Mike, Ahoy, and Daed-dy O’
Drops are no longer kept in the air when lowering the platform in All Charged Up
Restored functionality allowing players to loot and preview weapons from red chests after completing the Blacklime Bunker
Gear Balance:
Darkbeast
Addressed a scaling issue
Explosion Chance increased from 5% to 20%
Damage increased by 15%
Prince Harming
Addressed a scaling issue
Self Damage amount reduced from 5% to 1.5% of damage done
Damage increased by ~24%
Onslaught:
Damage increased by 75%
Ruby's Grasp:
Damage increased by ~40%
Lucky Clover:
Damage increased by 37.5%
Vamoose:
Damage increased by 20%
Asher's Rise
Addressed a scaling issue
Damage increased by 5%
Firmware Balance:
Get Throwin':
Ordnance Damage increased from 10% to 35%
Daed-dy O':
Damage increased from 20% to 35%
Mag Size increase from 15% to 20%
Rubberband Man:
Damage Reduction increased from 5% to 10%
Lifesteal increased from 5% to 10%
Jacked:
Zoom-in Speed bonus increased from 20% to 35%
Hyperion Shield Capacity bonus increased from 25% to 50%
Ricochet chance increased from 30% to 40%
Atlas Ex:
Mode Swap Speed increased from 25% to 33%
Damage while locked increased from 10% to 25%
Atlas Infinium:
Fire Rate bonus increased from 5% to 12%
Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%
Reel Big Fist:
Explosion Radius slightly increased
Airstrike:
Missile damage increased by 35%
Decreased Cooldown from 8s to 5s
UI, UX, & Text
Restored filter functionality to Lost Loot menus and addressed non-functional filter selections and sorting dropdowns
Updated the Lost Loot menu so the selected sort option is retained after exiting and re-entering
Adjusted map icon layering so Main Mission icons no longer overlap Wildcard Mission Giver
Adjusted scrolling behaviors in menus in splitscreen
Ensured the Transfer Machine remains open after exiting inspect mode
Added separate sensitivity sliders for mouse and controller inputs in the Controls (Basic) menu on PC
Corrected the buddy widget display so respawned characters no longer appear as “still respawning”
Updated item rarity displays to show the correct color and tier when playing in non-English languages
Removed extra ECHO Log slots
Restored missing item thumbnails in the bank menu and improved loading speed for equipped and backpack item thumbnails when large numbers of items are stored in the bank
Updated Explore Menu positioning so it displays correctly in front of the explored region during vertical split-screen
Adjusted layout so Item Cards no longer overlap when compared in horizontal split-screen
Addressed a reported issue where weapons could unequip and disappear when changing their customization in the Status menu
Corrected overshield coloration and behavior for pets and buddy widgets so that health, shield, and armor visuals now display properly
Adjusted Contract trackers to only appear when the Contract is active
Resolved a reported issue where mission-related celebratory notifications could display duplicate icons
Added the missing “Restart to Apply Changes” prompt when adjusting texture quality during gameplay
Updated option descriptions to be more intuitive and player-friendly
Addressed the chaos displayed by the “SHiFT code is valid” countdown in the SHiFT menu
Updated controller prompts so the correct input type displays when opening the SHiFT menu from the main men
Removed an extra scrollbar that could appear when Reporting Users
Addressed text inconsistencies in some side missions
Updated D-pad functionality on controller to behave as expected
Preserved key bindings that could be removed between sessions for non-English keys
Standardized ECHO Log tracking for the Kairos Speaks challenge to ensure totals display consistently between general and mission log views
Updated localization, mission naming, and various text descriptions across the game
Updated end credits
Visuals
Addressed reported instances where players could become invisible when performing a Vault-level transition during a travel tunnel
Addressed an issue with missing parts and textures on gear
Updated ECHO-4 character model and digistruct to have lights, eyes, and thruster effects appear correctly
Adjusted fishing point visuals so markers no longer appear incorrectly on terrain near Sandytoes Villa
Updated level geometry and collision across multiple regions to prevent players from becoming stuck, falling out of bounds, or being blocked by invisible surfaces
Adjusted grappling points and traversal paths in multiple missions to prevent players from chaining grapples into unintended areas or losing functionality
Addressed misplaced or inaccessible loot containers, including strongboxes and vending-area chests in The Wireworks and Windspear
Addressed inaccurate rendering of water in some locations
Corrected lingering slide smoke effects that could appear when moving or jumping after performing a slide
Turned off the mining laser after shutting down the second Eridium generator in Terminus Range
Corrected visual stretching on character and NPC cloth when adjusting the FOV while the game is paused
Updated Dark Subject mission so Tim’s weapon now properly disappears with his model during the “Kill Tim”
Addressed multiple reported animation inconsistencies including gear, NPCs, hand stuttering, root-lock issues, and visual glitches during combat actions. These improvements remove visible sliding or snapping during melee or grapple sequences
Improved environmental synchronization in multiplayer
Adjusted mouth animation timing for Callis in Another Day, Another Universe and for Numba One in Mob Mentality so dialogue syncs correctly
Balanced underwater lighting and brightness near Belton’s Bore (The Low Leys, Mountains) for more consistent visual clarity when diving below the surface
Repaired a purple light texture that appeared after interacting with the Auger Shrine in Terminus Range
Optimized beam effects on some Order gear with lasers
Standardized bullet shell ejection visuals for Daedalus pistols
[SPOILER] The smoke during Sophia’s death wasn’t goth enough and was changed from orange to black
Updated the fade on digistruct to be less uniform
Resolved flickering from Exo-Soldier’s PROJECT: Raiju Capstone effect when used inside the Order Bunker
Updated vehicle materials to display correctly after applying paintjobs in the customization menu
Adjusted deployable barrier visuals on shields and Shield Boi
Faded the red light trails from Atlas underbarrel tracking Darts and Balls on Jakobs pistols
Tuned brightness of target marker visuals when using the Ripper Sniper Rifle tracking mode against certain bosses
Corrected firing animations for Vladof submachine guns with the Extra Barrel underbarrel and Torgue shotguns with Daedalus ammo switcher
Adjusted Order grenade to no longer slide across the ground when dropped from the inventory
Adjusted animation blending for Daedalus shotguns using Maliwan Element Switcher to eliminate abrupt snapping and to prevent the secondary magazine from appearing loaded when using the primary firing mode
Audio
Resolved a reported issue where the crowd could continue to make sounds after they stopped spawning during the Null and Void mission
Prevented host players from temporarily losing audio if another player joined their session while they were in an ECHO menu in multiplayer
Addressed missing or incomplete sound effects when looting in multiplayer sessions
Made the really loud bird in Grasslands quieter
Additional audio balance adjustments
Player Experience
Improvements to stability and optimization
Dev Note: We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.
Updated PS5 controller LEDs to change color based on the player’s active elemental type
Addressed unintended adaptive trigger feedback that occurred with Ripper weapons while reloading or firing without ammo